Ducati fails to deliver superbike after collecting Rs 4 lakh in advance

For a celebrated Superbike whose appeal lies in its monstrous speed Ducati has failed the velocity test for Mumbaikar Mohit Kalra reducing his roaring dreams of owning a Monster 795 into a whimper A 26yearold Mumbai businessman Mohit paid an advance of Rs 4 lakh for the 795 in March last year After a yearlong harrowing wait the Italianmake sport bike has still not been delivered forcing him to haul Ducati Indiarsquos official dealers to court for cheating him Mohit Kalra 26 with the bike accessories he bought for Rs 80000 for his dream bike Monster 795 Mohit a resident of Lokhandwala told MiD DAY that in January 2012 he came across ads about an auto expo in New Delhi which spoke of Ducati bringing its new model the Monster 795 to India at a price of Rs 699 lakh It would have the engine of the Monster 796 which costs between Rs 1011 lakh imported all the way from Italy the ads claimed Mohit was tempted Two days later another ad said early birds would get the 795 at a discounted price of Rs 599 lakh if they booked right away Now Mohit was hooked oblivious that he would be kept on the hook for the 13 months that followed ldquoI have been passionate about super bikes since my childhood but never owned onerdquo said Mohit the chief operation officer of a jewellery manufacturing unit at Seepz ldquoExcited I went to the Ducati showroom in Worli There a salesman informed me that the onroad price of the bike would be roughly Rs 7 lakh with taxes and the delivery would be made within a month of bookingrdquo The biker in him revved up and on February 17 2012 he wrote a cheque for Rs 2 lakh made out to Ms Precision Motors India Pvt Limited the official Ducati dealers in India A month later when his dream bike didnrsquot show up he issued two more cheques of Rs 150 lakh and Rs 50000 hoping for an early delivery Gearing up A very charged Mohit then set out on a shopping spree for his super bike ldquoI got a special registration number 4222 blocked after paying the required charges to the Andheri RTOrdquo Mohit said ldquoExcited that the bike would be delivered within a few weeks I went to the US in Marchend and bought Ducati accessories including a helmet all costing about Rs 80000rdquo But the bike remained a fancy even on his return Mohit claims all his inquires thereafter hit a brick wall ldquoThe dealer would claim the bike was on its way or was tangled in customs issues Till date I havenrsquot got my bike At last I wrote to the Ducati head office in Italy but did not receive any satisfactory responserdquo he said Mohit feels he has been taken for a ride ldquoI feel cheated I was pining for a super bike and dreamt of being a rider but all my dreams have been dashed I never thought an international brand like Ducati could cheat its customersrdquo He has decided to take legal recourse ldquoI do not trust Ducati anymore and have decided to take up the matter in courtrdquo said Mohit ldquoI have approached advocate Hrishikesh Mundargi to file both civil and consumer complaints in the courts against the Mumbaibased dealer for duping merdquo Similar rides Mohit is in company Arun Chandrasekhar 39 a designer from Chennai made an advance online payment of Rs 1 lakh to book the Ducati Monster 795 on January 12 2012 the day they advertised the super bike in India Arun was informed by Mumbaibased dealers that he was the first to book the bike in India and was their privileged customer ldquoIn the last 15 months I have made umpteen correspondences with the dealer who kept assuring the delivery of the bike but it never came Last month I spoke to a representative at the dealerrsquos Mumbai office and I sensed that the bike would never be delivered So I asked for a refund of my advance paymentrdquo Arun got his money after a month but without any interest ldquoThe dealers should have given a nominal interest on the deposit but they did not It is very upsetting that a dream super bike remains a dream I do not want to go for Ducati again even though it is internationally renownedrdquo Says the dealer ldquoWe are committed to fulfilling the delivery conditions of the sales contract once the payment conditions are met by Mr Kalra In case Mr Kalra is unable to pay the balance or does not want the bike anymore we will duly process the refund upon his requestrdquo said an official spokesperson for Ducati India More details regarding the prolonged waiting period or the problems assailing the delivery could not be obtained Online backlash Other aggrieved customers have conveyed their displeasure with the international brand through posts on Facebook gtgt Aldrin Gomes Please DONrsquoT BUY Ducati 795 Ducati India have been promising the bike since April 2012 I paid my deposit then I did speak to the owner of Ducati Mumbai and he promised to give me the delivery date two weeks ago Bad service before buying the bike I canrsquot imagine what it would be postpurchase The only reason for taking this bs is that I purchased gear worth Rs 2 lakh from Ducati Paris last May Please do not buy this bike On March 2 gtgt Jeffery Stagg I have now left India and am willing to give the inside story to exactly what has been going on with Ducati India and how the customers have been made to suffer On November 20 gtgt Aniket More Letrsquos all come together to help our motorcycling community brothers who have been brought to great troubles with the Ducati It has been a year that bikers who have booked their Monsters 795 have not been given deliveries but only false promises If there are people at Ducati India reading this let it be known that we bikers cannot be taken for a ride On November 14 gtgt Ashish Mishra How many guys have got their refunds back for monster 795 On January 19u00a0